


and that had been that

by extremelyquestionable (TechnicalTragedy)



Category: The Derp Crew (Youtube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Foreign Exchange Student, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-04
Updated: 2014-12-04
Packaged: 2018-02-28 02:13:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2715146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TechnicalTragedy/pseuds/extremelyquestionable
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anthony is a foreign exchange student from Italy. He has trouble doing his own laundry, is dating John, is afraid of spiders, parties too much, has trouble getting good grades because of that, and somehow Steven falls in love with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	and that had been that

The first time Steven met Anthony, it was 2 a.m. and they were doing laundry. Anthony had been glaring at the washer, muttering to himself, and holding a box of detergent like a shield. Steven had ignored him at first, had gone to another machine, but soon the low, foreign cursing had started to bother him.

"Are you having issues with the washer?" he asked suddenly, turning to give the tall, dark-haired man a glare.

He’d looked up with wide eyes, a sheepish smile on his face. “Sì, uh, yes. I do not know how to use this, um, machine,” he’d said, and with his accent, Steven suddenly understood the problem.

Steven had smiled a bit and walked over to him, taking the detergent from him gently. “Alright, I see you separated them into color and everything, so that makes this easier. You pour this in there, close the lid, then you turn this dial to this setting for darks, and press this button, and that’s it! You’re golden. Turn the dial to this setting for lights, and this setting for colors. Now I’m going to go do the same to my clothes.” Steven clapped him on the shoulder after his quick explanation, hoped he’d manage on his own, and went back to his laundry.

As he walked back to the machine he’d claimed, Steven heard Anthony whisper, “Grazie.”

He’d smiled and started on his laundry, and that had been that.

\- - -

The second time Steven met Anthony, it was 2 p.m. and he was supposed to have knocked on Nick’s door. Anthony had opened the door, and they had just stared blankly at each other for a full five seconds.

"You’re not Nick," Steven had said dumbly, when he finally realized who he was looking at.

Anthony shook his head. “No. I think Nick lives two doors down? Moustache, long hair? Acts like he is twelve? Yes, Nick lives two doors to the left.”

Steven had grinned, thanked him, and gone on his way. That night, after he’d gotten spectacularly drunk with Nick, Steven had revisited Anthony’s dorm, and when he woke up the next morning, he was naked and in bed with the dark-haired man. He’d been tempted to stay, to relish being in bed with an attractive man, maybe make pancakes together or something dumb like that. His memory from the night before was hazy, and he kind of wanted to relive whatever they’d done. Steven had quickly pushed those thoughts from his head, stumbled to his feet and dressed, then bolted as quietly as possible.

On the run back to his dorm room, he’d let himself regret, for a moment, not even knowing cute Italian guy’s name, but after a while even that sorrow faded, and that had been that.

\- - -

The third time Steven met Anthony, they both realized they had fucked up supremely. John had said his boyfriend was coming to pick him up, “not that it’s any of your business, Steve.”

Steven and Anthony had just stared at each other throughout the bare bones introduction John gave them, both knowing that they’d slept with each other, both realizing they would have to keep their mouths shut and pretend they’d never met.

They shook hands and avoided each others’ eyes. John whisked Anthony away to go get pizza or something, Steven hadn’t been listening, and Steven sighed. He was so fucked if John ever found out. The guy already didn’t like him, and if he knew that Steven had slept with his boyfriend, he’d probably make his life living hell.

By then Steven had helped Anthony with his laundry, mistakenly knocked on his door, drunkenly slept with him, and had just found out his name. They seemed to be going in reverse, but whatever could’ve come of that reverse relationship was gone now, since John and Anthony were together. Upon reflection, Steven figured out he was sad about that, but stopped thinking about it by picking up one of his textbooks and studying, and that had been that.

\- - -

After a couple months of enduring John and Anthony’s sickening couple cuteness, Steven was forced to listen to them have sex, too. Even though they were almost always out partying, Steven was avoiding the room more often, choosing either to crash at James and Nick’s place, or, if they were unavailable, with Adam and Cathy. John had actually stopped hating him, and they were getting to be friends. Anthony and Steven had talked it out, and had agreed to forget that their night together had ever happened.

On one of the rare occasions that Steven was actually in his own room and was studying, he heard a bloodcurdling scream from the bathroom. John was out, but Anthony was in, so the logical conclusion was that the Italian was being brutally murdered, and Steven needed to go save his life.

Steven knocked on the door politely, because, even though Anthony might be getting murdered, he wouldn’t want to offend his ‘delicate Italian sensitivities’ by walking in on him while he was wet and naked.

"Are you dying?" he asked, but his only response was more howling. Rolling his eyes, Steven muttered to himself, "Guess that answers that," and opened the door, since neither John nor Anthony understood locks.

What Steven found was a wet, naked Anthony pressed against the wall and shrieking at the shower he’d gotten out of at some point.

"What the fuck, Anthony. You’re getting water everywhere," Steven complained.

"Spider!" Anthony squeaked, pointing at the shower. "Kill it!"

Steven sighed deeply, already completely fucking done with this. He peeked into the shower, located the spider, and crushed it with his hand. “It’s dead.”

"Thank you so much, Steven," Anthony said as he stood shakily. Steven stared resolutely at his face, determined not to glance down at his junk. Anthony wrapped him up in a hug, and Steven felt massively uncomfortable.

"Uh, yeah, okay. You’re welcome. Can you just get back in the shower and please never hug me when you’re naked again?"

Anthony seemed to realize that he was, in fact, naked, and jumped back into the shower, his face beet red. “Scusa,” he said, “Sorry.”

Steven shook his head, left the room, went back to studying, and that had been that.

\- - -

John and Anthony broke up after three months. They realized they’d be better as friends, and broke up on amicable terms. John started dating a new guy named Anthony about three weeks later, and Steven had laughed about that for all of two seconds before John had scowled at him and stormed out of the room.

John was out of their room a lot more often in the months following the breakup, and when he was he would make Steven play video games with him instead of study. They grew closer in those months, and, for some reason, that made Steven start wanting to see Anthony again. Since John was out of the picture, he wondered if he’d have a chance with him.

It seemed fate was inclined to give him that chance. When John and Anthony had been apart for nearly four months, Steven just so happened to run into Anthony. Literally.

They crashed into each other, sending their papers and books flying everywhere.

"Merda!" Anthony cursed at the same time Steven said, "Fucking hell."

They looked up at each other, rolled their eyes, and started gathering their stuff up, nodding at each other once before going their separate ways.

Steven texted Anthony later that day, telling him he was pretty sure their textbooks had gotten mixed up. Steven was amused to learn that Anthony worked at a cookie shop, so they met up at the shop after Anthony’s shift ended, exchanged textbooks, and then Anthony asked Steven if he could help him out with his classwork.

After a brief round of questioning, Steven had learned that Anthony had started partying much more often since he and John had broken up, and his grades were suffering because of it. Steven had the best grades in nearly all of his classes, since he spent basically all of his free time studying, so Anthony figured he could help him out.

Steven agreed, and they’d set up an arrangement so that, every Tuesday and Thursday night from 6 to 8, they’d meet up and Steven would help Anthony study or with his homework, or just whatever needed to be done.

They kept their arrangement up for months and months. Anthony’s grades improved, they got to be friends, and they fell a little bit in love with each other along the way. Soon, though, it was summer, and Anthony went to go visit his family in Italy, while Steven stayed in the States. They kept in contact, made sure to Skype each other and talk pretty often, but they were thousands of miles apart, awake at nearly opposite times, and preoccupied with summer activities and family.

Even though they remained in contact, remained a little bit in love with each other, it just wasn’t the same, and that had been that.

\- - -

The new school year started, and Steven wasn’t rooming with John again, instead managing to get a room with Anthony. They started up their study dates again, but most nights just stayed in and played video games or went to go get fast food and do homework.

The months flew by, and soon it was nearing Thanksgiving, which meant Steven would be heading home, and Anthony would have to stay behind alone. In the year they’d known each other, Steven had started considering Anthony his best friend, so of course, he asked him to come home with him for Thanksgiving.

"What is Thanksgiving? You go home and eat with your family, yeah?" Anthony asked when Steven brought it up.

Steven shrugged, killing another of Anthony’s Spartans. “Yeah, basically. You’re supposed to be thankful for what you have, and stuff like that. My family wants to meet you, though, since I messaged you all summer.” He scowled as his character exploded onscreen. “They think you’re my boyfriend.”

Anthony looked over at Steven incredulously. “They do? That’s funny. “

Steven almost winced. That kinda stung. Was it funny because Anthony would never, ever date Steven? “Yeah, I guess. Families are weird.”

"My family is good," Anthony said as his warthog flipped over. "My mama cooks really well."

Steven grinned over at him. “That’s because you’re Italian. Don’t all Italians cook well?”

Anthony stuck his tongue out at him. “I will not say yes, but I will say I have never met an Italian who cooks badly.”

Steven laughed, even as yet another of his characters died. “Of course. Well, my mom may not cook as well as yours, but she does a pretty good job. You should come to Thanksgiving with me and tell me if your mother’s cooking is better than mine’s is.”

Anthony huffed out a laugh and died again, bringing Steven to victory. “Do you really want me to come with you, Steven? I feel like you just say you want me to come with you out of pity.”

Steven rolled his eyes. “Of course I want you to come with me. You’re my boyfr- I mean best friend.”

Anthony stared at him, and there was awkward silence for a moment, before he shrugged. “Alright. When are we leaving?”

"In two days, at around 10 a.m.," Steven told him, avoiding meeting his eyes.

Anthony nodded and stood, rolling his shoulders. “I should get homework done before we go, then.”

"Make sure to pack enough stuff for about four days," Steven said, and Anthony nodded again, before grabbing a textbook and his papers and settling down at their tiny table to work.

Two days later, they headed out at around 10 a.m., got to Steven’s parent’s place at around 3 p.m., and were forced to share a bed that night.

They stared at each other in the dark silently until Anthony said, “Your mother is a nice woman.”

Steven chuckled quietly. “Yeah, she is.”

Anthony smiled. “I hope you can meet my mother someday.”

"Wow, meeting the parents already? Didn’t know we were that far along in our relationship," Steven joked, and Anthony rolled his eyes.

"I did just meet your parents, so I think we would be even," he replied, and then made a face like he wanted to say something but didn’t know how, an expression Steven recognized even in the nearly non-existent light of the moon through the window. "Do you think," Anthony started, pausing before he got any farther. "Do you think John is happy?"

Steven wasn’t sure where this was going, but he didn’t like it. “Honestly? I don’t know, buddy. He seems pretty happy with, uh, other Anthony.”

Anthony nodded. “Good. Because, well. I was not happy with him.”

Steven frowned. “You seemed pretty happy with him.”

Anthony shook his head as best he could with a pillow obstructing him. “No.” He left it at that for a long while, long enough that Steven thought he’d fallen asleep. “You make me happy, Steven,” Anthony said suddenly, surprising Steven.

"You make me happy, too, Anthony," Steven said, smiling at him.

Anthony sucked his lips in, thinking hard. “Do you ever…Do you ever think about that night? The night we, um, you know.”

Steven swallowed, and nodded minutely. “Yeah.”

"Do you ever want to do it again?" Anthony asked in a whisper.

Steven’s throat constricted, and he nodded again. “Yeah,” he breathed.

Anthony and Steven stared at each other silently for a long, long time. “I want to be more than your best friend, Steven,” Anthony finally said, so quiet Steven barely caught it.

Steven couldn’t help the wide smile that crept across his face. “Yeah,” he told Anthony. They fell asleep grinning at each other, and when they woke up, their fingers and legs were tangled together beneath the sheets.

Steven formally introduced Anthony to his whole family as his boyfriend, and when they went to Italy for Christmas, Anthony introduced Steven in the same fashion.

Anthony proposed by hiding the ring in his laundry and making Steven help him with it, Steven said yes, and that had been that.


End file.
